The present invention relates to a device which allows sealing the entry of a cable, particularly an optical cable, into a sealed alveolar multicontact connector, of the type which comprises an insulating element provided with a plurality of alveoli made to receive and hold contacts installed at the end of cables, and a sealing blanket, made of an elastically deformable material, arranged on one face of the insulating element, and having a plurality of passages with regard to the alveoli, each of the passages being aligned with an alveolus, elastically extendable in the radial direction during introduction of a cable, and made and sized to surround the inserted cable so that it is tightly held and sealed.
Such connector elements are known and used for electrical cables in various applications, particularly in the aeronautics field.
The passages in the sealing blankets have sizes and dimensions adapted to the electrical cables to be put into place, to obtain optimum sealed hold of these cables, where the said cables can have an outside diameter between 1.6 and 2.7 mm, for example, for a size 16 contact.
A sealing problem comes up if one wishes to put cables with a lesser outside diameter, particularly optical cables, into the same connector element, in order to achieve electrical connections, on the one hand, and connections of optical cables, on the other hand, in the same connector.
In fact, in this case, the compression effect achieved on the outside sheath of the cable with the thinnest diameter at the location of the passages of the sealing blanket is too low to assure a perfect seal around the cable, particularly in those applications where a major pressure differential exists between the outside and the inside of the connector element.
As an example, one can cite the case of connectors used for the wiring, particularly the control consoles, of non-pressurized vehicles, such as combat planes, for example.
In this case, contaminants, particularly fluids, can penetrate into the interior of the connector alveoli and detrimentally affect the quality of the connection achieved.
Furthermore, during connection of optical cables using contacts which comprise a compression spring intended to assure axial support of the face of the optical fiber end against the face of the optic fiber to be connected, the forces exerted by the sealing blanket on the optic cable to be placed in a passage of the sealing blanket detrimentally affect the quality of the optical connection.